Renita Ryder/History
Background Born to Henry and Evelyn Kingsley as "Prudence", she displayed remarkable sixth sense abilities that allowed her to naturally sense nearby demons or other supernatural beings without the use of a magical spell or enhancement, which frightened her parents. Unable to understand or deal with her, they abandoned her at an orphanage. For an entire year, Prudence would wait by the window for their car, in hopes that they would be back for her, which many of the other children teased her for. After a year, she came to bitterly accept that they were not coming back for her and began fearing that something was wrong with her. For years, she began resenting her parents for leaving her and developing a grim outlook on life. When she finally became open to the idea of adoption, her hopes were continually crushed as every couple that sought to adopt her only wound up bringing her back due to the strange events caused by her powers. Nearly two years later, all the other children had been adopted and the orphanage was set to be closed down by the city government. Prudence overheard the staff discussing what to do with her and that no family would want her. Then, Raymond and Rita Ryder, members of the Ryder Clan, arrived at the orphanage looking for her. Though she was reluctant to even entertain their offer, her interest was peaked by Raymond's explanation of demons and spirits being real as well as his display of knowledge regarding her powers. He revealed that he and his wife would be legally adopting her, but the choice to join them was hers alone. Before leaving, he gave her a crystal pendulum and told her that she could use it to focus her powers and find them before the end of the week. Prudence spent much time debating the possibility of this before eventually racing to meet with them. She managed to catch them just before they left for the airport and was officially adopted into the Ryder Clan. There, she trained with them for years honing her powers and even becoming a full-fledged hunter by the time she was fourteen. Raymond and Rita asked what she wanted as a gift to celebrate and she revealed that she wanted a new name. To her, Prudence Kingsley was a sad, lonely girl that nobody wanted. Unwilling to ever be like her again, she chose to shed all reminders of her old life and fully embraced her new life as "Renita Ryder". Some time after this, her aunt and uncle were killed by demons and she took in her younger adoptive cousin Remington Ryder. Remy stayed with her under her grueling training until he was considered a full-fledged hunter. She makes use of this ability to assist in her demon hunting profession. In addition to being a demon slayer, Renita advertises herself as an exorcist and spiritual medium as well and often finds work to deal with malevolent spirits. City Shadows Arc 3 Renita was briefly mentioned by her cousins Remy and Reginald Ryder. Remy believed Ren assisted Reggie in finding him and was the reason he was hear to convince Remy to give up being a hunter, though Reggie denied her involvement. Arc 4 Renita finally made her first appearance during arc 4. In it, she was shown performing an exorcism of a malevolent spirit in an old house before sensing the presence of a nearby demon. She engaged the demon in battle but it escaped as the police arrived on scene. Renita researched the area and concluded that the demon was after a dagger that was heading to a museum exhibit in Los Angeles. Knowing her cousin was living in that city, she called and informed him of her arrival. Though the trip took her several days, she arrived at the museum where the dagger was just as Dragen, the demon she fought earlier, was attacking it. Her intervention prompted Dragen to retreat. Remy was shocked at her sudden arrival and tried to explain why his friends were demons, but Renita silenced him. Instead, she took the dagger Dragen had come for and left, saying she would meet up with them later. Ren continued to aid the Shadow Strikers in their quest against, though she continued to cause difficulties due to her untrusting nature and her tendency to assume everyone knew her plans. When confronted about it, she acknowledged this difficulty in her personality and resolved to work better with them as they worked together to gather the keys. However, she briefly earned the group's ire when she suggested Drago might be working with his father and brother, but defended herself by stating that her point of view was necessary despite its harshness. Later, she comforted Mala, with whom she was temporarily staying, when Drago left the group for some time. During the group's final confrontation with Shen Du, Renita volunteered to remain behind and battle Dragen. Despite his superior strength and magic power, Ren made excellent use of her arsenal and keen, strategic mind to gain the upperhand. During their fight, Ren expressed her sympathy towards Dragen and his lack of sense of purpose. She argued against Dragen's accusation that the Ryder Clan had indoctrinated her by stating that her loyalty for them comes from the fact they gave her everything. When it appeared Dragen was moved by her words, one of her explosives accidentally detonated, resulting in Ren being critically injured. Unable to fight back, she accepted her fate and told Dragen to "finish it". However, instead of killing her, Dragen chose to save her life by sealing her wound shut with his heat vision. She spent some time recuperating before joining up with her friends in time to save Dragen's life, which she considered "made them even". Afterwards, Renita departed San Francisco. In that time, she continued her missions for the Ryder Clan, all the while being followed by Dragen, who had been setting fire to abandoned buildings in an effort to get her attention. It eventually worked and she allowed a reformed Dragen to join her on her missions as her partner. Following their completion of a mission in London, Renita received another mission nearby involving a young girl with the same powers as her. When they arrived, she discovered that the girl was in fact her own sister when she recognized the couple requesting her help as her birth parents. She was able to conceal her identity from them before imparting the same advice she received from Raymond onto her own sister, Temperance, but without revealing their relationship. As they left, she briefly revealed her identity to them. Later at a cafe, Renita stated that although her parents felt guilty for abandoning her, she would never forgive them but also would not force Temperance away from them. Category:History (fan) Category:A to Z